Search

Memory enhancing herb - Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri L.) has growing national and international demand owing to its various medicinal properties. In order to study the influence of shade and nutrient levels, an experiment was laid out in strip plot design with shade levels as the main plots (35% shade, 50% shade and 100% sunlight) and nutrients requirement as sub plots [50, 75 and 100% N equivalent through FYM, 50, 75 and 100% N equivalent through vermicompost, RDF (100:60:60 kg NPK/ha), RDF (100:60:60 kg NPK/ha) + FYM (10 t/ha)]. The results revealed that among different shade levels tried, superior plant growth, fresh and dry herbage yield and cumulative dry herbage yield of seven harvests were obtained in 35% shaded condition compared to 50% shade and open conditions. Among different nutrient levels tried, conjunctive use of recommended dose of fertilizers (100:60:60 kg NPK/ha) + FYM (10 t /ha) gave the highest dry herbage yield (16.35 t/ ha), which was on par with organic treatment consisting of 100% N equivalent through FYM + Arka microbial consortium @ 12.5 kg/ha/year (16 t/ha). However, highest content of bacopasaponin C and bacoside A were observed in 100% sunlight condition (1.88 and 2.93%, respectively) and in integrated nutrient management treatment. The results were very promising for acceptance of Brahmi for commercial cultivation especially in organic production scenario to ensure steady supply of quality raw material to cater the increasing national and international demand.

Field experiments were conducted at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru during kharif season of 2015 and 2016 with nine treatments and three replications in a randomized block design to find out the effect of different levels of N through FYM (100, 75 and 50% of the recommended N along with and without bio-fertilizers), recommended dose of NPK (160: 80: 80 kg/ha), recommended dose of FYM (10 t/ha) + NPK (160: 80: 80 kg/ha) and recommended does of FYM (10 t/ha) as a control on growth, herbage yield, oil yield and economics of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.). The pooled data results revealed that the conjunctive use of inorganic fertilizer along with FYM increased the growth, herbage yield and oil yield of sweet basil. Application of recommended FYM (10 t/ha) along with recommended NPK (160: 80: 80 kg/ha) registered the highest plant height (81.22 and 60.20 cm), number of branches (30.25 and 24.10), leaf area (16.35 and 9.80 cm2), fresh herbage yield (39.95 and 19.37 t ha−1), dry herbage yield (8.43 and 3.76 t ha−1) and oil yield (199.7 and 107.58 l/ha) in the main crop and ratoon crops, respectively. Highest B: C ratio (5.49) was obtained with application of full dose of recommended NPK fertilizer during 2015. While in 2016, the maximum B: C ratio (3.71) was recorded with application of recommended dose of NPK (160: 80: 80 kg/ha) + FYM (10 t/ha).